To whip her into shape for her role as Johanna Mason, the cunning District 7 tribute in the second installment of The Hunger Games trilogy (due out in November), actress Jena Malone required a fleet of fitness pros: A stunt team to provide her with the martial arts training she’d need for the film’s challenging action sequences—shot across land and water in Hawaii earlier this year—and a personal trainer to sculpt her body into a formidable fighting machine. “She has this intensity,” says Malone of her character’s steely physical and mental fortitude. “She can walk into a room and stare you to death.”

With that in mind, on-set makeup artist Nikoletta Skarlatos gave Johanna extreme lashes and heavily shadowed lids in shades of “warrior” green and gold for her early scenes in Panem’s Capitol; the choppy brunette bob she adopts later in the wild, on the other hand, was Malone’s own handiwork. “I cut it [myself],” she admits with a laugh.

Now that shooting has finally wrapped, the 28-year-old actress is currently back home in Los Angeles, where she has recently finished work on another project: Paul Thomas Anderson’s forthcoming Inherent Vice, a film that has ushered in yet another beauty transformation this summer—her newly honey-blonde hair.

Here, she talks to Vogue about training for the role, taking the scissors to her hair on set, and the beauty products she loves offscreen.

Your role in The Hunger Games sounds physically tough. How did you get ready for the part?
Luckily, I did [an action] film called Sucker Punch a few years ago, which taught me what I could achieve in a gym. I lifted 235 pounds in preparation for that movie and my whole body transformed. The same stunt team—they’re called 87Eleven—got me in shape for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. We focused on martial arts–type training for the role of Johanna, which helped with stamina and endurance. I also did strength training with Patrick Murphy, who is kind of like a body sculptor. I trained five days a week for two months before we started filming, and then I kept it up during the months of shooting.

What changed the most?
My posture. And my mood. Sometimes you just need to get sweaty in a gym and feel pain in your body like you’ve never felt before, and then learn how to rise above it. That was important, because the hardest thing about being Johanna was finding a way to carry her energy in my body for sixteen hours a day. She has this anger that is always bubbling at the surface.

Johanna is rumored to make a striking above-the-neck transformation in the movie, too. Tell us about it.
If you Google the name Johanna Mason, there are 7,000-plus fan drawings of what she looks like, what people want her to look like, what her parents look like! It was crazy bringing this iconic character to life. I think we were all a little intimidated. For her first look in the Capitol, she is wearing this long black ponytail with red tips that goes down to her waist, and eyelashes that go on forever. Her look is really about her eyes. So it was about finding the wildest fake lashes from Germany or Japan. We only had a few sets of them, and I had to be really careful taking them on and off. It took about two-and-a-half hours to get makeup-ready each day. Later, in the Arena, she’s stripped down, sweaty, and sexy, which took about forty minutes. We spent almost three weeks trying to figure out Johanna’s hair [for those scenes]. We cut it, we put things in it, we cut it again, and we tried a wig. One day, I just got in there with some scissors and I cut it my own hair. I said, ‘Ok, this is what she would have done.’ It was a bit terrifying.

That’s a lot of change! Now that filming has wrapped and you’re back to real life, what’s your daily beauty routine?
For me, it’s all about skin. When my skin looks beautiful, I feel beautiful. It starts with water. I drink a lot of water, and I add something to it called ChlorOxygen drops, which are like pure chlorophyll. You can get them at Whole Foods. I also love Éminence organic products. Their Stone Crop Hydrating Mist is a lifesaver if you’re traveling. No matter where you are, just spray a little and it’s like you’re in the tropics. I also love their Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Serum.

What about your makeup? Are there products that you are loyal to?
I’m always changing my hair color, which changes my makeup. When I had short hair, I loved a natural look, with just a little bit of something on my lips. When I was a brunette, I liked having a stronger brow, with not much else around the eyes. Now that I’m a blonde, I feel like my face can take more makeup. I use Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturizer and Guerlain Lingerie de Peau Invisible Skin-Fusion for my complexion. On my brows I use Laura Mercier’s pencil in Soft Brunette, and for my eyes I like Geisha Ink’s black pen. And then I love Julie Hewett’s products—her Belle Noir lipstick, especially. She was the makeup artist I worked with on Bastard Out of Carolina, and all of her products are amazing.

Speaking of your hair, what is your natural color anyway?
Good question, because it has changed so many times! It’s a light brown. But I’ve been liking the blonde, so I’ve kept it. Normally I go back to my real hair color right after finishing a job.

Are there things that you do to keep it looking healthy through all of the color changes?
I use argan oil. It doesn’t weigh it down and it always looks kind of shiny. I don’t wash my hair a lot: Because it’s blonde it kind of looks crazy when it’s too clean. So I just rinse it and put the oil in it—which sounds like a recipe for disaster. But it’s not.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens in theaters on November 22, 2013.